Petersfield Triathlon Club was started in 2011 by Rob Hall who created a friendly, social club that caters for all levels of athlete - beginner, improver or elite. We enourage athletes with a variety of abilities from novices to age-group competitors

Training sessions are held regularly in all of the three disciplines for all fitness levels, our athletes compete in various distances from sprint to ironman & we try to encourage people new to triathlon to enter our “focus” events so that we have a good club presence at a few local races.

I swam as a kid, did loads of mountain biking in my twenties & finally got into running in my thirties when children meant that time was of a premium, so it seemed a natural progression to put the 3 together which I started to do in 2011. I’ve competed in sprint, standard & longer distance triathlons. I love the variety that triathlon brings – by varying distances, choosing between pool or open water swims & road or off road bikes and runs. I enjoy encouraging new people to the sport, seeing improvements in the pool & on the bike & the joy on people’s faces as they complete our club triathlon for the first time.

Rich Roberts:

BTF Level 1 - 26 Oct 2015

I started triathlon only a couple of years ago, by entering the Petersfield Triathlon in 2014. I'd learnt to swim freestyle 'properly' a few months before and my aim was to finish 400m without stopping - too many times. On the day the adrenaline, or if I'm honest sheer nerves, kicked in and I didn't stop, I did the ride on my MTB and running 5k with legs made entirely of jelly was a new experience for someone who came to the sport from a running background. This year I'm aiming for standard distance as my A races, and mixing triathlon with some longer cycling sportifs and the odd open water swimming event. For me it's all about enjoying the sport, training and racing well rather than just competing, and doing so with the friends I've made through the Club. Coaching adds another dimension, the Level 1 course taught me a lot about how to train as well as how to coach and by watching and analysing other peoples' technique and talking with them, I learn something new every time I coach. One of these days I might go for Level 2 coach but right now I'm enjoying building my training, racing and coaching experience.

Sarah Matthews:

BTF level 2 - Qualified summer 2013

I’ve run for years to keep fit, got my first road bike in April 2011 then joined Petersfield Triathlon Club in September that year specifically to do duathlon but also to improve my swimming. The occasional running injury allowed me time to work on my swimming and participate in a number of local triathlons and achieve some age group wins during 2012. I was interested in coaching and got involved sooner than planned because the club was short of coaches. Helping an athlete to overcome a problem or difficulty gives me a real buzz. In 2014 I competed in the World Duathlon Championships but had to pull out of the 2015 European Championships because of a persistent hamstring injury. The upside was I could still ride my bike without aggravating the injury. I'd discovered I was a better cyclist than I’d ever be a runner (or swimmer!) so now focus on time trialling and have had some successes. The one thing I hate about triathlon is the clumps of hair wafting around at the bottom of swimming pools.

Julie Gadsden:

BTF Level 1 Coach – qualified December 2016

I’ve been competing in triathlons since 1995, initially at Standard distance and now at Sprint. I started doing triathlons just for fun and for a challenge but when I retired in 2011 I decided to take the sport more seriously. I joined Petersfield Tri Club in 2012 and was pleased by how welcoming they were to slower competitors like me. The PTC swim sessions have really helped me improve my times. In 2016 I signed up with a BTF coach to see how much I could develop as a triathlete. With the support of PTC and the help of my coach, I have now qualified for the GB Age Group Team for the World Championships. This is a major achievement for me and has involved getting into open-water swimming after many years of competing in pool-based events. In 2016 I qualified as a Level 1 triathlon coach and I particularly enjoy helping ‘newbies’ to get into the sport